Many Americans will remember this holiday season for the long lines at testing stations or the interminable search for antigen test kits at the pharmacy. This was after the Omicron variant overtook the Delta wave. The latest transmissible variant has already exposed patchy testing, and the US is being unfavorably compared to other developed countries that offer free rapid tests.
In a virtual meeting Monday, biden informed governors that his administration could have done more to speed-up the availability of rapid tests, before his promise this month for 500,000,000 kits to start distribution in January. This will not be enough to ease this week’s holiday crunch.
It’s not enough. It is clearly not enough. It’s clearly not enough. Biden, in an interview with ABC News shortly before Christmas, denied that the shortfall in at home testing was a failure. He said, however, that he could have said, “You could argue we should’ve known a year ago,”, “6 months ago”, “two months ago,” or “a month ago.” He said that he wishes he’d thought of ordering 500 million tests at-home “two months ago.”
Although candid comments from the President are unlikely to increase public confidence in a White House which vowed to close Covid-19, it sometimes seems to underestimate the strength of the virus or the magnitude of the challenge. Despite millions of Americans’ reluctance to follow the President’s advice about vaccines that could save lives, the administration has achieved some significant successes in fighting the emergency. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention modified its guidance on Monday to make the current outbreak less disruptive to daily life. It reduced the time people should isolate if they have tested positive for Covid-19 to just five days, if they do not have symptoms, and if they keep a mask close to others for at most five more days.
The White House is not the only one being tested. It has been forced to catch up after successive waves of a pandemic that was uncannily able exploit political divides and slow-moving bureaucracy.
Another political blow
Biden may be facing political consequences as he tries to bounce back from a difficult few months in which his approval ratings plummeted. Biden is on record as promising to remedy the dearth in testing revealed by the viral surge.
Competence was his guiding principle. He made the issue the centerpiece of his 2020 campaign. This was partly due to the fact that he highlighted ex-President Donald Trump’s failures in the first year of the pandemic. In a March address to the nation, the President stated that he was continuing to work to make at-home testing accessible.
It’s not enough. It is clearly not enough. It’s clearly not enough. Biden, in an interview with ABC News shortly before Christmas, denied that the shortfall in at home testing was a failure. He said, however, that he could have said, “You could argue we should’ve known a year ago,”, “6 months ago”, “two months ago”, or “a month ago.” He said that he wishes he’d thought of ordering 500 million tests at-home “two months ago.”
Although candid comments from the President are unlikely to increase public confidence in a White House which vowed to close Covid-19, it sometimes seems to underestimate the strength of the virus or the magnitude of the challenge. Despite millions of Americans’ reluctance to follow the President’s advice about vaccines that could save lives, the administration has achieved some significant successes in fighting the emergency. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention modified its guidance on Monday to make the current outbreak less disruptive to daily life. It reduced the time people should isolate if they have tested positive for Covid-19 to just five days, if they do not have symptoms, and if they keep a mask close to others for at most five more days.
The White House is not the only one being tested. It has been forced to catch up after successive waves of a pandemic that was uncannily able exploit political divides and slow-moving bureaucracy.
Another political blow
Biden may be facing political consequences as he tries to bounce back from a difficult few months in which his approval ratings plummeted. Biden is on record as promising to remedy the dearth in testing revealed by the viral surge.
Competence was his guiding principle. He made the issue the centerpiece of his 2020 campaign. This was partly due to the fact that he highlighted ex-President Donald Trump’s failures in the first year of the pandemic. In a March address to the nation, the President stated that he was continuing to work to make at-home testing accessible.
“You know, testing has always been an problem,” Fauci said to CNN’s Kaitlan Coll, adding that the situation was exacerbated by the hordes American tourists who want to travel during holidays, just like Omicron.
Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stated that “it’s been an extremely, very strong run of testing.” “Obviously, we don’t make excuses for this: We should have had more testing. We’re hoping that things will improve as we move into the first few weeks of January.
Biden has taken several steps to address the problem. Biden ordered that all Americans be reimbursed by their health insurances for at-home testing. This can cost as much as $20 per kit. He promised Americans that half a million rapid tests would be free of charge, but they won’t start to roll out until at the least next month. This influx may be crucial as Omicron spreads but it won’t stop the Christmas surge and frustration among those who believe they are infected.
